


Things Unsaid

by Daxolotl



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Farm/Ranch, Angst, F/F, Future Fic, Light Angst, Moving On, Requited Unrequited Love, Unresolved Romantic Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-27
Updated: 2019-02-27
Packaged: 2019-11-06 14:15:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,172
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17941262
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Daxolotl/pseuds/Daxolotl
Summary: It's a long drive from National City to the ranch. But it's worth it, to see her.Even if it hurts sometimes.





	Things Unsaid

The road to the MacCready Ranch is long, and winding, and hell on the suspension of Kara's little towncar. Flying there would have been faster, but...keeping up at least some of the illusion is important, even now.

As she parks up next to the MacCready family pickup, Jenna's stepping out of the ranch.

"Kara! Hey!"

Kara beams, stepping out and wrapping her sister-in-law in a hug. "Hey yourself!"

"You timed your arrival as perfectly as always, y'know? I've gotta go pick up the kids from school, so you've got some time with her before I'm back. She's out back, working on you-know-what."

Kara scoffs and tries to act like she didn't intentionally time her arrival (and wait at a pit stop for 45 minutes) that way. But Jenna's always been observant (that's always been Alex's type, Kara observes), and she just pats Kara on the shoulder before slipping past her into the pickup.

"Oh, and get her to drink some of that lemonade I left out! It's been two hours, the ice'll be all gone by now." Jenna calls out of the window. Kara laughs and waves her off before making her way around the house, towards the garage.

She can hear Alex cursing before she steps into view, along with the groaning and creaking of both metal and Alex's joints. As she rounds the corner, she's greeted by the sight of Alex Danvers, looking every bit the grease monkey, underneath a spaceship, gripping a socket wrench with both hands and trying to turn it.

Kara giggles. "Need a hand with that?" 

Alex promptly loses her grip on the wrench, dropping it on her chest. "Kara!" she calls out, trying to act casual as she rubs her abdomen and winces. "I didn't know you were coming over."

"Well, I wanted to surprise you. The offer of a hand's still open if you need it."

Alex grumbles. "I got it." She goes back to trying to turn the socket wrench, before giving up. "...Actually, can you get me the arc welder? This joint has annoyed me and must die for its sins."

Kara snorts and walks over past the overly-warm lemonade to grab the welder from the workbench. She doesn't superspeed, she very intentionally takes her time and passes it underneath the ship. "You know, I could just heat vision it for you."

"This is my project, Kar, get your own," Alex grumbles, pulling down her welding goggles from their position on her forehead. "If you want to help, cool down that lemonade that I keep forgetting about and that I've been meaning to drink for the past two hours."

Kara laughs but obeys, turning away from the bright light of the welding to use her freeze breath gently on the lemonade, cooling it down to the perfect temperature for a sunny day on the ranch. She pours herself a glass, and notes the fact that there are two glasses next to the pitcher. Hm. Maybe she's becoming more predictable than she'd like.

After a couple of minutes, the welding stops, and Alex slides out from underneath her pet project. "I'd hug you, but I'm all grimy." She's covered in grease and dirt and sweat, and her undershirt sticks to her chest in a way Kara tries her very hardest to ignore.

She pours herself a glass of lemonade and downs it practically in one.

"You know, I still can't believe that of the two of us, _you're_ the one who ended up as a farmer's wife," Kara muses, leaning against the table.

Alex laughs. "Well, it was a surprise for me too. Jenna and I just...work. And it was...good to get some distance."

She doesn't need to say what she was getting distance from.

They both know.

Kara refills both of their glasses and clears her throat, searching for a different topic. A safer topic. "So, uh. How's work coming on the..."

"Umbra IV," Alex supplies. "It's good! Early days yet, but...for an astrobiologist, I don't think my attempts at scrapyard spaceship-building are too bad. There are worse hobbies."

"Umbra IV, huh?" Kara grins and bumps their shoulders together. "What happened to the Umbras one through three?"

Alex flushes in embarrassment. "Well, Umbra I got taken by the DEO when I accidentally used a classified technology to build part of the thruster - you know that one. And...Umbra II had a tragic accident during an unmanned flight test that we really, really don't need to go into right now."

"What about Umbra III?"

Alex's eyes flick away. "Didn't work," she says, and it's an obvious lie. "Scrapped it."

"Alex..." Kara chastises, giving her a Look.

She shifts uncomfortably under the intensity of Kara's Look. "...It's in a keypad-locked Nth metal shipping container out in the field. Full working condition, ready to fly."

"Then why work on a new one? Why not just improve III, instead of making a whole new one?"

There's silence between them, just the sounds of crickets chirping for company.

The silence grows too much, too oppressive, and Kara sighs and gets to her feet. "Alex, I..."

"I need to know I've got one working."

Kara stops. Stares.

"If you're in trouble. If you're across the world, or on Argo, or, damn it, if you try and pull a Fort Rozz again...I need to know that I've got a working ship." She's staring at Kara now, and it's too much, too intense, this is exactly why Alex moved away. "No matter what happens, no matter how far I move...you're my _person_ , Kara." 

Kara takes a deep, shuddering breath, and she nods.

"If you're in trouble, then I will be there. I can't fly. I can't break the sound barrier on my own. So if you're in trouble...I _need_ this. If I didn't have it, and I heard you did something reckless and stupid..."

If it were any other situation, she'd object to that.

"If you did something reckless or stupid and I couldn't help because I'd decided to take the engine apart on the Umbra III to make it work better or decided to make the seating more comfortable or something stupid like that, I wouldn't ever forgive myself."

Kara nods, swallowing down her emotions.

"The two of us might never have..." Alex stops short, there. She can't put words to it, even now. "We might not be...but...but that doesn't matter. Because no matter what, you will always be my Person. And I will _always_ have your back."

There's the distant sound of car tires on the rough track to the ranch, and Kara clears her throat, rubbing at her eyes. "Jenna will be back in a minute. We should...say hi to them."

"Yeah," Alex says, placing her glass down. "The kids'll want to see their aunt."

"Their aunt." Kara echoes. She tries to smile, tries to settle herself, tries to remind herself that this is okay, that this is _better_. "Yeah. I can't wait to see them, either."

**Author's Note:**

> _DaxolotlToday at 13:10_   
>  _"You're my person" really does perfectly summarise my feelings about Kara and Alex. Whether they're romantic or platonic almost makes no difference to me - just so long as they have their devotion to one another._
> 
>  
> 
> _It doesn't matter if years pass, if they get married to different people, if they move to different cities or different planets. If Alex hears that Kara is in trouble, she'd drop everything. Say "I'm sorry, it's Kara, I've...I've really gotta go" to her wife and be on the next plane to Kara - or get a superhero to fly her there. And Kara would do the same for her._
> 
>  
> 
> _(Who am I kidding, Alex probably has an alien spaceship as a pet project in her family garage, Just In Case.)_


End file.
